April 2005

I.
With heartbreak which can is so open to you, it is not dissimulated above with weighting with a little constitution of constitution it re-examines that they receive your good good lateral side, if the words receive in your throat send adhered a treasure unspoken, signs of light on a lbsanmerkungs-lbsanmerkung drink to him do not smoke do not write – only not done you? Don’t you drink do not smoke – what you do? There Innuends owes its something of interior it subtly does not follow its to dissimulate to follow us manner that of having become was a joke to know you to be to us will adjust it to adjust it each one can take a remark to take remark that it to see thus kneels to cry word which you mean to open their Augapfel Augapfel to pretend that it its green Al of green Al step of somebody outward journey to explain me that to be false or to which its right or explains me to eat with a sleep or that I largely gain to have D fight largely fight seen outside or they become to explain you to be to you “STAR of Super” during two weeks and you his all the time legend me also far if D word unspoken receive adhere in him the throat send a treasure, the signs of light on a lbsanmerkungs-lbsanmerkung drink to him do not smoke do not write – what you do?

II.
Dry and hard blow upward! You strike upward! Any wax on trax and sliding rail on outta Hane here hane hane hane hane does not place hatchets in, which make the corner earth ear, groove improves down to climb down healthy button and blue elbow and white lively cheek make-up each thing to be have liberty, equality, to receive to jourd ‘ to use today is it very very very here the opportunity us unbelievable I to receive movement groove God and each approval bad vibes akimbo on shelf little to call a thing blow, for me to go this gold on tooth a sense of the only bent whole DE, if wall here to be I to be with my four to hold man let ‘ to still begin s RAP thing: Faithfully not condemning it!” As long as you do not destroy it with twenty years drugs and meant drinking I, the time had come to keep itself high in order to think, and tragedy to say that it was and such a old hat, which I with my four men hold myself begins that for ap-thing here still: Faithfully the south the south I hold themselves with my four men make here this ap-thing still: Faithfully in the unpleasant north and in the south sexy are we all, which sing that I the mouth… (repetition until on:) in the unpleasant north and in the south has, sexy, we all are, which sing, and I the mouth have, and you the mouth to have, and her the mouth to have received

Yesterday I was sleeping when O2 came in to start his day in earnest. He settled in for his daily dose of ‘Dora the Explorer’; I managed to continue to doze. Sometime later, he left the room, then came back in, hopped up on the bed, and came over to attack me; a small naked monster making shooting noises and poking at my face with straws.

“Whoa,” I said. “You’ll make me lose an eye!”

“Nope,” the small monster said. He went back to the shooting noises and poking.

One IV start (first try, small amount of fishing), two IV med ‘pushes’, one intramuscular injection, one ‘per oral’ med administration. Lots of other non-invasive odds and ends.

I’m starting to feel like I know what I’m doing. The nurses are pretty laid back with me; none of them bother to watch me anymore. The PAs and doctors are cool, too; they are all fine with me observing examinations and consults and are happy to explain things to me.

I like it. I’m going to have to get myself hired as a part-time ED tech once clinicals are over.

I was actually with the FD, driving the chief’s pickup truck to a neighboring town to go check out some cribbing that the FD there just bought. As we were pulling into town, I heard our transport agency sign onto the dispatch channel. I realized we were about to get toned for a medical call. The tone came just as we were pulling into the parking lot at the other FD; elderly male with chest pain. Conveniently, I had thrown my bags into the back of the chief’s truck when he asked me to drive his truck so we were set to go direct to the scene.

We pulled through the parking lot and back onto the street. The chief told me that I was fine as long as I kept between the white lines. We made it back to town quite quickly and went to the scene.

The patient had a classic cardiac presentation; anxious, sweaty. Another FD EMT, Mrs. T., had been behind us at the other FD and so was on-scene immediately. We started the patient on O2 and started asking questions. Blah, blah, blah. It was pretty cool having my intermediate knowledge, if not the ability to use my skills. I felt like I had a much better handle on what was going on.

The ambulance arrived and we put the patient on the bus. I got in to observe the IV start. The lead transport EMT that was on the call is usually a jerk and generally ignores us FD EMTs; I was surprised that when I got ready to get out he asked me to go to the hospital with them. I guess he was worried the guy was about to arrest; the patient did have that look about him.

We got about two blocks away when I heard the chief over the radio in the ambulance say, “Bx, are you going on this one with us?” Then I heard someone mention a nearby street. I had the ambulance pull over and I jumped out, then ran over to the scene of the new call. It was also chest pain.

Mrs. T. and I worked this call for as long as it took the ambulance to get to the hospital, drop off the previous patient, and return; twenty-five minutes or so. Luckily, the guy was quite stable and I wasn’t worried that he was going to code. It was a sensitive call in that it was a relative of a firefighter; the patient’s mom and the ff’s grandmom (the same person) had died that morning, so there was some stress going on. Anyway, Mrs. T. and I did our thing until the ambulance got back, then helped load the patient. I again observed the IV start (a bit messy, I thought). This time, when I left the rig, the lead EMT did not ask me to stay, so I think that he agreed with my assessment that the guy was stable.

I’ve had only four medical calls since I got out of intermediate school, over a month. I guess fate must think I’m too well prepared right now to bother giving me calls, though I’d like to be exercising my skills and cementing my knowledge.

Last week, I was elected coordinator of my primary squad. The ambulance lady, the former coordinator, decided to step down. She has taken the assistant coordinator job and will help me with the bits of red tape. She nominated me for the coordinator spot due to my dedication to the squad and experience representing the squad at state and district medical board meetings.

I had my first headache as squad boss on Sunday; I had a complaint about the actions of two squaddies on a call Saturday night. A third squad member who had not been at the call heard from someone in a different town about what had happened and called me at 0900 on Sunday morning. It is a minor infraction related to scene safety that could have been very serious; it falls to me to gather the facts and then discuss it with the two squaddies. I expect it to be handled pretty informally.

I had a lovely time in SF last weekend with the incomparable . It was too short, though. I need independently wealthy in-laws, I think.

I traded my scooter in on a new one. The new one, a Goped GSR-40, is chain-drive, has dual disk brakes, and has pneumatic tires. This means that I can scoot through wet conditions without the direct-drive spindle slipping, and that I can go down improbably-steep hills without the brake effect diminishing as the calipers heat past the temperature required to melt rubber, and that I can go over bad pavement without the precaution of keeping my mouth wide open. It goes fast. The chain drive means that the ‘ped sounds different than the old one; it’s got a high-pitched whirring noise that sounds sort of science-fictionish. It’s still being broken in so I haven’t maxxed out the throttle yet. It’s bigger than the old one, too, which is good while riding but bad while carrying it in a store.

Paid our taxes. The bad part about having a pet corporation is having two sets of taxes to do.

I had five starts in two hours tonight. I got every one of them on the first try. Only one of them failed to go into the vein on the initial poke; I fished around and got that puppy, though. My first successful fishing expedition.

Call me the Phlebotomizer.

These were my first starts in ten days; obviously, I did none while in California and then Friday night, my last night in the ER and first since going out west, there were no starts to do. No patients in the ER at all. It was like everyone decided to stay healthy for the night. Awfully dull for me, though.

I’ve got 42 hours in the ER so far. I’m guessing I’m more than two-thirds of the way to completing my requirements, hours-wise. Right on target according to my initial estimation.

Bxiie's Photos

Huh?

This is a blog about whatever strikes me but primarily about emergency services and computers. I am a firefighter/EMT and a technology professional in rural Vermont. EMS, Fire, Oracle, UNIX. AEDs, Windows.